


Crushing the High Bar

by merry_amelie



Series: Academic Arcadia [255]
Category: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Genre: Alternate Reality, Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 19:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10669476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merry_amelie/pseuds/merry_amelie
Summary: An unwanted kiss.





	Crushing the High Bar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [davaia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/davaia/gifts).



> Feedback: Is treasured at merryamelie@aol.com (or leave a comment).
> 
> Disclaimer: Mr. Lucas owns everything Star Wars. I'm not making any money.
> 
> For  
> My beta team: Emila-Wan and Carol  
> Mali Wane for posting to the Master Apprentice ML  
> Travis for posting to the Master Apprentice Archive on AO3   
> Alex for inspiring Arcadia 
> 
> References:  
> [Good Jeans](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4260093)  
> [Teenage Daydream](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4276134)
> 
> Student crushes:  
> [Outmaneuvered](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1793569)   
> [He's Too Old for You](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4161840)
> 
> Arcadias in the gym:  
> [Avocation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1793590)  
> [Exercise in Exhilaration](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1819441)  
> [Empirical Results](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1843621)  
> [A Touch of Sadness](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1908054)  
> [Innocence Lost](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1908057)  
> [Leap Day](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6165736)  
> [Sidelined](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5981431)

Quinn couldn't believe it.

He was sitting in the stands with Case, Ethan, and Evan, watching the last Skyhawks meet of the regular season. Coach Otto Rance and Ian, his assistant coach, were stalking the sidelines, in the middle of the final rotation. One minute, Quinn was cheering the team on with the best of them, and the next, he saw something he'd never expected to see, even if he lived as long as Master Yoda himself.

Armie Huxley kissed Ian smack on the lips.

He watched the kiss in slow motion. One minute, Ian was congratulating Huxley on a great horizontal-bar performance with a high-five, and the next, Huxley was kissing him.

Quinn saw Ian's instant recoil and shared the same reaction.

Huxley saw it, too, and scuttled into the locker room. Fast.

The saliva dried in Quinn's mouth, and he closed his eyes involuntarily. He felt his hands curling into fists, without conscious thought. His first instinct was to pound Huxley into the ground, but he remembered Master Yodama's calming techniques and used every one of them, until his pulse rate started to decrease.

It felt like he had seen a phantom that was too elusive to fight off. He saw Case's kind hand on his arm, but he was incapable of responding.

Quinn sat through the rest of the meet in a daze, not quite trusting his own eyes. He barely noticed Ian wiping his face with a damp towel, scrubbing over his lips, hard.

* * *

After the competition was finally over, Quinn gave his husband a tight smile, which became a compassionate one, as soon as he saw Ian's pale face when they met at the exit to the auditorium nearest to where Quinn had parked. Quinn didn't even know if the Skyhawks had won the meet.

They climbed into the THX in complete silence, knowing better than to broach such a fraught subject until they were safe at home. The ragtop was up tonight, because of the chill in the air around them. Quinn even snapped the radio off, not in the mood for progressive rock at the moment. The tension mounted during the drive, and they were both relieved when Ian opened the front door.

Quinn tamped down his own anger and jealousy when he took Ian into his arms, pouring comfort and warmth into his husband, as soon as the door had closed behind them. "Ah, laddie, you've been through the mill today. Just relax along with me." After Ian's eyes had closed, Quinn picked a red hair, lighter than Ian's own, off of his husband's Skyhawks t-shirt, hiding his disgust with Jedi resolve.

Ian nestled into him, basking in Quinn's tender hug, blissfully unaware of the turmoil his herven was feeling. "Wow, how strange was that?"

As soon as Quinn said, "About as strange as it gets," Sandy and Artoo came bounding into the living room, with no idea of what had happened. They yipped happily and jumped on their dads, as usual. The men played with them half-heartedly, and the puppies knew something was up right away. Artoo licked Ian's cheeks and chin, trying to coax him into a better mood. Sandy yipped soulfully at both of his dads, as he darted between them, not knowing quite what to do.

The men ended up spending extra time with them, hoping to soothe them down. Ian felt a bit less frazzled already, since a hug from Quinn and an armful of warm puppy could make anything better. Quinn, gazing tenderly at his husband cuddling into Artoo, reached out and ruffled both copper hair and puppy fur.

When the pups were all but asleep in their arms, they carried them to their baskets in the kitchen. Quinn put new food and water in their bowls for the night. Ian poured himself a cup of milk, then made sure to leave the puppies' C-3PO night-light on, and he grinned for the first time since the kiss when he saw them snuggling into their baskets, trying for the perfect sleeping position.

The phone rang three times in five minutes -- probably Case, Eth, and Evan, thought Quinn -- but they ignored it and let everything go to voice mail. Quinn locked up for the night, while Ian drank his cup of milk in the living room. It all seemed almost normal.

The men prepared for bed, using both bathrooms at the same time, for greater efficiency. Quinn drank some water, then used the facilities. He was glad for the time alone, so he could continue to practice Yodama's relaxation techniques -- mainly deep breathing exercises and loosening taut muscles.

He brushed his teeth, trying to scour away the bitter taste in his mouth that he'd had since seeing Huxley kiss his husband. After spitting the toothpaste out and rinsing his mouth, he realized that his eyes felt a bit more watery than he could remember, so he washed his face, scrubbing it clean, just the way Ian had at the meet.

Ian himself was doing the same thing -- again -- this time with his favorite unscented liquid soap from Sequoia Grove. He needed to, because while he was brushing his teeth, he'd looked into the mirror. Much to his surprise, he saw faint traces of tears at the corner of his eyes. He grazed his mouth with his thumb, wishing he could forget the touch of lips that weren't Quinn's upon him. He couldn't stop a grimace at the memory. Like Quinn, he still didn't quite believe what had happened to him.

Both of them met in the bedroom, more subdued than usual. They put on their cotton pajamas, then crawled into bed, with Ian instinctively diving into his husband's arms. Quinn relaxed and gathered him in close. They eased into each other with two eloquent sighs.

Finally, Ian broke the silence. "What a way to find out that someone has a crush on you!" he said incredulously.

Quinn started to snort, which relaxed both of them even more. "I could have said exactly the same thing myself."

Ian kissed his jaw, furry with 10 o'clock shadow, enjoying the rumbling sensation from Quinn's snorting. "When the meet was over, Coach Rance told me that Huxley's been mooning after me for weeks now." He sighed. "And I was just oblivious. Ever since we got married at Luke Chapel, I've let my guard down, figuring that the students know that we're as together as it gets."

Quinn nodded into copper hair. "I've done the same thing. Apparently, we should've sent out engraved invitations to the entire student body." He snorted again.

"Guess so," said Ian dryly. "But it's been years since we've had this problem."

Running thick fingers through Ian's hair, Quinn just held him close for the next little while, humming an Irish lullaby.

However, Ian was still mulling over their new problem. "It's easy to forget that some students are simmering in a soup of hormones," he said in a rueful voice. "Coach said that Huxley told him that he just got carried away after seeing the highest score he'd ever recorded on the horizontal bar, and that when he saw me grinning at him, he did what he'd wanted to do since the semester started."

Quinn said, "Oh, laddie! I've always known that no one could resist that grin of yours." He ran a fingertip over Ian's lips, subconsciously reclaiming them for himself.

"There's something to be said for self-control," Ian said primly.

Quinn said, "Never count out an 18-year-old libido, Ian. 'Twill override good manners, good sense, and good intentions every time."

It was Ian's turn to nod now, right into Quinn's shoulder. "Remember our little role-playing adventure at my folks' house?"

They had waited until Jo and Keith were in California visiting cousins, then went to their home in Padua and pretended they were 18 again, making love for the first time. To say it was explosive was an understatement.

"Remember it? I'll never forget it." Quinn chuckled. "'Twas the only time I've ever come in my jeans."

"I'm one up on you then. That pair of old jeans of mine really turned you on when I pretended I was your college roommate," Ian said, all mischief.

Quinn nodded. "But we knew the time and place for such things, and it certainly was never during a gymnastics meet, with thousands of people in attendance."

"Yeah, Huxley couldn't have picked a worse place to do it," Ian said ruefully.

Quinn smiled wryly. "Actually, our office would have been worse. For him, at any rate." He chuckled darkly. "He never would have gotten to Square One if I were there."

Ian could just imagine the stern look that Quinn would give Huxley at the first sign of any impropriety, which would make the kid scurry out so fast, it wasn't even funny. "You're the voice of experience, Quinn," he said with admiration.

Quinn petted the copper spikes of Ian's hair. "I've been teaching at Luke almost as long as Huxley's been alive, and that kid's lucky he is still alive," Quinn said, attempting to lighten the mood with humor.

But Ian heard the undercurrent of anger in Quinn's comment, an emotion his herven rarely gave in to, and he was dismayed, especially since he couldn't help but feel angry himself. "He's just a kid with a hopeless crush," he said, talking to himself as well as Quinn.

"Too true." Quinn kissed the bridge of his nose tenderly. "Are you okay, laddie?"

Ian melted into his husband's arms even more at the love and compassion in Quinn's voice. "I will be," Ian said. "I just never imagined this at all. My adrenaline is still working overtime." 

"My poor little lad," crooned Quinn. "You've weathered a lot of student crushes, but no one's ever dared to kiss you before."

Ian shook his head. "It's weird." He burrowed into Quinn's pajama top, craving his warmth.

"That it is, laddie mine. But it's over now." Quinn kissed Ian on the forehead.

Ian nuzzled into his husband's chest, letting Quinn feel his love and devotion. "I need to unwind before falling asleep. Let's practice The Tranquility Kata. What do you say?"

"Good idea. No chance of us getting any sleep now anyway." Quinn gave his herven a little squeeze on the hip right before getting out of bed that gave Ian an intimate thrill, which was just what he needed.

They decided to keep their pajamas on, instead of changing into their aikido uniforms, since the cotton was breathable and gave them plenty of room to stretch. And it was too much trouble to bother with their gi at this hour of the night, anyway. Ian got their tatami mats out of the linen closet, while Quinn brought in cups of water from the kitchen and left them on the lamp table, to the side of the couch. They moved the coffee table over by the piano bench, then settled onto their mats in front of the fireplace.

The men eased into the kata the way they'd eased into each other's arms earlier that night. They flowed through the stances like the adepts they were, each pose bringing them closer to the goal of the kata: tranquility. By the time they reached the final position -- with hands clasped in front of them as they faced each other -- they felt more peaceful than they had all night.

Ian leaned up to give Quinn a tender kiss, which Quinn returned with even greater tenderness. Everything was going to be okay now. They spent the next few moments wrapped up in each other's arms.

Quinn whispered into Ian's ear, "Our puppies are still asleep, despite us galumphing about out here."

"Well, it is called The Tranquility Kata," Ian said, his first quip of the night.

Music to Quinn's ears, but he groaned just to keep Ian happy.

It was time to go back to bed, this time to sleep through the night. The mood was completely different than before -- they were mostly back to themselves. The sheets were still warm from their body heat, and they cuddled together just like they did at any other bedtime.

Now Ian was ready to tell Quinn the rest of the news. "Fortunately, Coach spoke with Huxley privately in the locker room afterwards, and he was able to soothe down his terminal embarrassment."

Their empathy was kicking in, and they could just imagine what the poor kid was going through.

Ian continued, "Otto has seen it all, just like you, ma gradh." He kissed Quinn on the cheek. "He told Huxley that he could train with him instead of me next semester, if he wants to. The kid's already said yes." Luckily, the Skyhawks season had ended with tonight's meet.

"One trouble on the way out, lad," Quinn said. "Rance knows what he's doing." High praise, indeed, from Quinn, the Master diplomat.

Now the men gave out the happy sighs of a problem solved.

Ian got on his elbow, and Quinn held his breath. Sure enough, his laddie leaned in for a kiss, their first kiss on the lips, since Huxley had tried to poach something not his to take. Ian's kiss was warm, gentle, and loving. It was everything to Quinn.

Quinn's kiss back was all love, and Ian could feel every single bit of it. A wonderful way to end the day on a positive note, and to give them sweet dreams of Arcadia.


End file.
